whrds

Women’s human rights defenders use technology to document, communicate, generate changes, but at the same time technology is used to bully and abuse themselves, the Defenders. Army of trolls flood personal profiles of defenders on social media profiles with threats, offenses and aggressive counter campaigns. Government agencies, narco-mafia and religious extremists spy defenders, hunt them and –…

Syrian activist and blogger Razan Ghazzawi and Lebanese activist, blogger and APC's EROTICS project coordinator Nadine Moawad were joined by Kate Kroeger, Executive Director of the Urgent Action Fund and Mary Lawlor, Executive Director of Front Line Defenders for a lively panel on the challenges faced by women human rights defenders and what the international community can do to help.

ISHR makes this statement on behalf of members of the Women Human Rights Defender International Coalition, an international network of women’s rights, human rights and sexual rights organizations. We address this simple fact: in the global North and South alike, women human rights defenders are targeted for murder, kidnapping, torture, rape, and harassment because of who we are and because of the…

The Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition is alarmed at reports of violence against Leyla Yunus in prison.

Tactical Tech is delighted to announce the launch of a new guide: Tools and Tactics for the LGBTI community in sub-Saharan Africa. This is the second in our series of Security in-a-box Community Focus guides, which aim to further integrate digital security into the context of particular communities and human rights defenders.

On the 23rd of June, I opened Facebook and found news that two friends had been arrested after participating in protests on the other side of the world. Natalie Lowrey is an Australian environmental activist who was arrested in Malaysia on 22 June during a peaceful action against Australian-owned Lynas Corporation's rare earth plant in Malaysia. Yara Sallam is an Egyptian feminist activist who…

AWID, in collaboration with members of the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition, has developed this publication in an effort to assess the various mechanisms developed to provide protection to WHRDs at risk, including initiatives developed by national governments, and regional and international human rights bodies. The publication counts with a specific section addressing digital …

On September 21st the website of the "Health Network of Latin American and Caribbean Women” (RSMLAC: Red de Salud de las Mujeres Latinoamericanas y del Caribe) was attacked and taken down. This attack occurred immediately after the launch of several activities related to #28SAbortoLegal, the September 28th social media campaign to legalise abortion. In this special issue, working with our partner…

The attack on the Health Network of Latin American and Caribbean Women (RSMLAC: Red Salud de las Mujeres Latinoamericanas y del Caribe) website confirms that we need to constantly defend the rights of women. Here, in a special interview for GenderIT.org, we talk with Sandra Castañeda Martínez, general coordinator of the RSMLAC, who helps us visualize the scale of violence on the internet today.

The Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD IC) condemns the aggressive and systematic digital harassment of the Latin America and Caribbean Women’s Health Network (LACWHN).